Vehicle owners have long recognized that their vehicles can be an effective means of displaying a humorous message, support for a political candidate or a personal belief. For the most part, the use of such messages has been confined to bumper stickers and to a lesser extent, to personalized vanity plates. In addition, numerous forms of advertising, including the promotion of one's business, have been displayed on automobiles, vans and trucks. Likewise, many vehicle owners today are attaching varying identifying means to their vehicle, for example, ribbons tied to the vehicle's attenna, for locating their vehicle in overcrowded parking lots and garages.
While bumper stickers have long been used by vehicle owners to express personal beliefs, to advertise products, to share humor with occupants of other vehicles, to provide information etc., a significant drawback to the use of bumper stickers is that they are constructed to adhere tightly to the vehicle frame for long durations and may be difficult if not impossible to remove when the time for them has passed. Moreover, the adhesives used on bumper stickers may leave a sticky residue on the vehicle even when the bumper sticker has been completely removed. In addition, a bumper sticker generally provides a fairly small space for displaying a message, thereby limiting the content and size of the message.
The use of advertising on vehicles is generally confined to either a message or company logo painted (detailed) directly onto the vehicle (e.g. Smith & Sons Plumbing) or painted onto removable magnetic signs. Both of these means of advertising also have great disadvantages. The direct painting onto a vehicle results in a near-permanent alteration which only can be removed or altered by painting thereover. Although the use of magnetic signs has allowed the vehicle owner to preserve the original exterior of the vehicle, these signs are expensive to purchase and create an additional burden to the vehicle owner in that the owner generally removes and stores the signs when not in use.
Attempts have been made to provide display panels which may be attached to a vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,291, issued May 1, 1984 to R. E. Easley discloses a modified license plate frame to which detachable display panels may be mounted. Panels may be mounted to the innovative frame from each of four sides. The license plate itself is framed by the apparatus and the panels are interchangeable.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,575,950, issued Mar. 9, 1926 to L. T. Thorn shows a license tag holder having a holder for a license plate, a supporting bracket for attaching the apparatus to a vehicle and sealing means that prevent one from tampering with the displayed license.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,605, issued Oct. 30, 1962 to P. M. Flack and U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,337, issued Feb. 12, 1974 to C. H. Schamblin disclose signalling devices that may be attached to the vehicle frame such as the bumper or a door frame. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 2,496,763, issued Feb. 7, 1950 to W. E. Whaley discloses a display card holder for automobiles that may be attached to a panel of the vehicle.
Despite the teachings of the prior art, a need still exists for a vehicle billboard that facilitates mounting an individual display to a vehicle. Such a vehicle billboard should be easily attached to or removed from a vehicle and provide a surface that is large enough to display a desired message or design. Such a vehicle billboard also should provide means for interchangeable billboards so that a user may readily change the message or design as needed or desired.